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Samsung Speaks Up First About a Smart Watch

By BRIAN X. CHEN

Samsung Electronics has made it clear that it is making a wristwatch, even as Apple is rumored to be working on a smart watchitself. It is rare for a big tech company to voluntarily reveal a future product.

Young Hee, an executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, toldBloomberg News that the company had been working on a watch for a long time. He did not share any details about the watch, but what matters is that Samsung has beaten Apple in saying it is doing a watch.

While Samsung’s products have been successful worldwide, the company has been accused in courts of copying Apple. Now that Samsung has said it is working on a smart watch, it will be more difficult for critics to call it a copycat even if Apple releases one first. Apple has not officially said it is doing a watch, though rumors are that one is coming soon.

Samsung’s early mention of a smart watch is just another example of a battle of words with its main competitor, Apple. A day before Samsung introduced its new smartphone, the Galaxy S IV, Apple did interviews with mainstream news outlets where it criticized the Android software running on Samsung’s phones. In the last year, Samsung has aggressively mocked the iPhone in advertisements for its Galaxy phones.

One thing is clear: Samsung’s attacks are direct, while Apple’s are still somewhat vague, perhaps to remain more secretive. Which strategy will win?